POP UP GALLERY: WESTBETH ARTIST CHILDREN’S HAPPINESS
A review by Alison Armstrong Ph.D

Advertised as Westbeth a Kids Art Show, March 15 – March 22, 2024, the inner courtyard former daycare space an ehibition popped up with art by uninhibited and happy very young artists exhibiting a variety of colorful paintings.

The youngest were two girls , Frankie (20 months) and Phoebe (2 years, 5 months). The lavish reception of food and wine drew quite a lot of grown-ups who wandered in to have a look and stayed to admire the skill and diversity of the art, including sculptures of various sizes and subjects. The medium was paper and paint or graphite. Scultptural works included Miss Hallier’s Paper-Mache giraffe of newsprint with an overlay of yellow staining. Her startling abstraction hung on an adjacent wall.Skillful paintings and a 3 dimensional piece by the Bernstein brothers, introduced the entrance to the middle room,

Gracing the long left hand wall of the end room were drawings that continued from black and white images into the more colorful works. Needless to say they were all hung at eye level. Black and white drawings by Ezra contrasted with brilliant abstracts, not to mention representational images that suggest motioning excited sudden emotion.The largest work was a dramatic semi-realist image of two humanoid figures in red/white/blue with green feet that dominated the end wall of the main space.

Click image for slide show

Due to brevity (the sudden appearance and disappearance) of this marvelous exhibition, this reviewer regrets that not all of the artists could be interviewed in person nor all of the art works featured here. However we have hopes that this have been the first of a future series of such exhibits that feature our youngest members of Westbeth Artists Community.